Don’t sleep in resorts, Albayalde tells cops

BORACAY – Policemen maintaining peace and order in this island resort should not sleep in hotels, especially those subject for demolition, according to Director General Oscar Albayalde of the Philippine National Police.

Department of Interior and Local Government officer-in-charge Eduardo Año, on the other hand, said the policemen would be given an additional task – help the Department of Environment and Natural Resources clean Boracay and the Department of Public Works and Highways in the demolition of illegal structures.

President Rodrigo Duterte placed Boracay under a state of calamity on Thursday and cited the presence of illegal structures among the reasons.

The structures included 937 illegally constructed on forestlands and wetlands, as well as 102 erected on areas already classified as easements.

In signing Proclamation No. 475, the President said the “state of calamity…shall remain in force and effect until lifted…notwithstanding the lapse of the six-month closure period.”

The disappearance of Boracay’s wetlands due to illegal structures enhances flooding in the island, according to the government inter-agency task force on Boracay made up of the departments of environment, tourism and local government./PN